Friendship and Love
by ColorLover123
Summary: A year after the bear incident, the three clans return to win Merida's heart. But, will trouble find them? rated "T" for safety
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Brave**

Merida groaned, falling down on her bed.

"Nooo!" she whined.

"Merida, it was bound to happen." Queen Elinor tried to comfort her daughter, and was failing. The Queen had just announced that the three suitors were once again coming-this time to win her heart, before her hand. And she was not looking forward to it.

"Do they really have to stay for over a month?"

"Yes, they do. Just give them a chance, maybe you will fall in love with one o' them." Elinor answered hopefully.

"Doubt it," the princess muttered under her breath.

"And besides, Lord Dingwall is bringing his eldest daughter with him. Mind you, she is a bit young, fourteen to be exact, but it will be nice for you to have a friend."

"Mum! I'm sixteen! And she probably won't want to ride horses, clime cliffs, practice archery, nothing _I _enjoy doing! And what if she's like her brother, always off in her own world?"

"Just, be kind. Now, they should be here soon. Let's prepare for their arrival." And with that, she was gone.

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Merida was sitting next to her dad wearing a dark blue riding dress with her hair wild and loose. Her mother was on the other side, trying to control the three young princes. Suddenly, the doors burst open, revealing the three clans. Like a year ago, they all were introduced and soon there was a full on fight in which Elinor took Merida, the three young lords, and a small girl out side.

"I trust you children to behave yourselves, I will be inside."

Merida turned to the girl. She was barely above five feet tall, shining blond hair that was put in two braids, and large sky blue eyes. She was wearing a pale green riding dress with a thin brown leather belt. She seemed like she was observing everything around her.

"Well," Merida started, "What are all your names?" young Macintosh stepped right up.

"I am Artair," he stated, flexing his muscles. Merida, uninterested, turned to young McGuffin.

"Ivar," he answered tersly, making sure they could understand him. Merida smiled and turned to Wee Dingwall. He did not answer at first but continued to stare at the skyline.

"His name is Kennan, I'm Kyla, his younger sister." We all (except Kennan) turned to the blond girl, as it was the first she had spoken.

"Well, welcome to all of you. You can call me Merida." They all fell into an akward silence.

"Would any of you like to go riding through the woods?" the boys shook their head at Merida's offer but were surprised to see Kyla nodding rapidly.

"Kyla, I'm not sure you should be going in the woods," Kennan said in a warning tone.

"Don't worry so much, I ride all the time at home. You just are afraid of horses so you don't like me riding them."

"That is not true!"

"Prove it then,"

All eyes were on the young heirs, no one daring to say anything.

"Fine," and he marched right up to a horse, his eyes growing wide, not knowing what would happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Kennan was right behind Merida's horse, Angus, when he got a hoof straight to the place where no male would want to be kicked by a horse. Staggering back, he pulled swears too the point the boys were covering the girls' and their own ears. Ivar and Artair both felt sympathy, Merida didn't know what to feel, and Kyla was laughing up a storm. After five minutes of Kennan cursing out in pain, he calmed down enough to glare at his still laughing sister.

"That was not funny!" He defended himself.

"I beg to differ, brother," she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes, "It was hilarious!"

Within seconds, Kennan had his sister pinned down.

"Get off of me!" She yelled, no longer laughing.

"You knew that would happen!" he accused.

"That is why you don't approach a horse from behind,"

He would have said something if Ivar hadn't pulled him off. The two siblings glared at each other until Kyla switched to the puppy-dog-face.

"I'm sowwy brother," she said giving him a hug. Sighing, he hugged back. The three who were watching this saw her smirk.

"So, can we go for a ride, Merida?" Kyla asked.

"Sure, let me get Angus ready and find you a horse." She answered turning away.

"Actually," the young blond interrupted, "I brought my own horse. His name is Gradh."

She ran over to one of the stalls and led out a chestnut horse with a long black tail and mane. The small girl saddled him and swung her leg over with ease. Kennan was watching her carefully and was standing in a position so that he could help in a moments notice if she fell.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked for the tenth time.

"I'll be fine, I promise I will be careful. See you at dinner." And with that, the two girls rode off into the woods.

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The boys watched as the girls rode out of sight.

"So, are you two on your own accord then?" Kennan asked.

"I was but now I'm wondering if I do want the Princess's heart." Artair answered truthfully, stealing a quick glance at the woods. Ivan just nodded.

"I'm here 'cause my dad wants me to be here."

"So, I'm th' onny un who steel es trinning t wan hir heit? (Translation: So, I'm the only one who still is trying to win her heart?)" Ivan asked. The two boys looked at him in confusion. He shook his head as though saying they should forget he said anything.

Kennan saw Artair staring at the woods again. The former eyed him suspiciously, but then decided to forget it and switched to wondering what his sister could be doing.


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile, Kyla and Merida had been practicing archery at the trail Merida uses most often but were now resting under an oak tree.

"Kyla, how brave are you?" Merida asked suddenly. The younger girl turned to look at her.

"I don't know. I'd say I'm pretty brave. Why?"

"Would you like to come to drink with me at the Firefalls? They say only ancient kings were brave enough to drink from them. I already have, but it would be nice to go there again." Kyla considered this for a moment. Her brother would freak out and have a heart attack if he saw her up there- he may not show it, but he is really protective of her- but on the other hand, she _did _want to see if she was brave enough.

"What are we waiting for?" The young girls saddled their horses and rode deeper into the forest until they came too some cliffs bigger than the Dunbroch castle.

After they securely tied their horses too a tree, both girls started up the steep climb.

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Kyla took a long drink from the rushing water.

"It tastes just like regular water," she told the smiling Merida.

"True, but you proved you're braver than most, coming up here," the redhead answered truthfully.

"We had better head back or my brother might go insane." They both had to laugh at that, but they both knew it was true. Kyla had explained how protective he is while they were riding here.

They saddled their horses and galloped back to the castle.

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Kennan looked towards the woods for the sixth time in the last five minutes. The girls had been gone for over three hours and he was wondering what they could be doing. That was all he has been doing: sitting and staring at the trail they followed. Ivan was off somewhere off with his dad and Artair was practicing with his sword. Little did the small boy from Dingwall know, but Artair was also watching the woods closely, just more discreetly. The young swordsman didn't know why he wanted to know why Kyla was so late when he should be worrying about Merida but he figured it was because she was so much younger.

'_I'm just worried for Kennan, he is a good friend of mine,' _he told himself repeatedly, hoping he would start to believe it himself.

**I hope you liked this chapter! Please review if you liked it. ~Kate :-)**


	4. Ages

**Hi! So I figured the ages might be a bit confusing so here they are.**

**Merida: 16**

**Triplets: 6**

**Artair: 16**

**Ivan: 17**

**Kennan: 15**

**Kyla: 14**

**Thank you all for reading my story! I really appreciate it.**


	5. Chapter 4

**HI! I just wanted to hank everyone for reading my story!**

**TripleThreat123: Thanks; I'm a big fan of the movie myself. And I looked up old Scottish names on the Internet and they seemed to fit.**

** .hi.: Thank you. And yes, I didn't think he looked 16 or 17 but I don't want him to be too young.**

**Badboylover99: Thanks! I'll try to update more often.**

**Ellemonster: I'm glad your enjoying it. I'll try to write more so you can read more.**

Later that evening, Kyla and Merida were telling the boys all about their adventure. When they got to the part about the cliffs, Kennan's face turned as red as a strawberry, literally.

"I thought you said you would be careful!" He yelled. It was a good thing it was so loud I the dining hall or everyone would have heard instead of the only the young heirs.

"I did and I was," Kyla retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Climbing cliffs is not being careful!"

"They weren't _that _high."

"Those cliffs are said to be higher than this castle!"

"True…"

"KYLA!"

"Alright you two," Merida interrupted their argument, "what's done is done, let's just enjoy your welcoming dinner." After the two siblings mumbled apologies everyone started their own conversations. Artair, Kyla, and Kennan decided to talk about how they spend their time at home. That left Merida and… Ivan.

"Well Ivan, how do you spend your time?" the princess asked.

"I cleam creffs mossty, but me n' ma brithiers precptice swawrd fihetin' tee." (I climb cliffs mostly, by me and my brothers practice sword fighting too.) Merida looked at him in confusion. The large boy seemed to think for a minute before reaching into his bag and pulling out a few sheets of paper and a pencil. He laid these on the table and wrote down what he had previously tried to say. Merida read the sentence and nodded.

"Sounds fun. I prefer archery myself but I do like climbing cliffs."

"_So, how old are you? I'm 17" _he wrote.

"I just turned 16 about a month ago. So what kind of cliffs is there where you're from?" and so, as they continued to talk, Kyla happened to look over and see how much Merida was enjoying herself. Even though this girl was very young, she could see how well they were getting along.

_I'll bet they end up falling in love. They would look perfect together. _She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice her brother trying to get her attention until he actually started shaking her.

"Kyla! What are you staring at?" Kennan asked, obviously annoyed.

"Can you see Ivan and Merida? They are obviously perfect together. Maybe I can help him with his speech…"

"You shouldn't meddle."

"I wouldn't be meddling, I would be helping." Her brother just sighed. Before anyone could say any more, the three Lords started a full out fight, the King and clans soon joining in.

"Not again." Merida groaned. The queen rounded up the three young princes and came over towards the table the teens sat at.

"I think it is time you all head up to bed. You boys will stay in tents like last time but Kyla, if you would like, you can stay in the room next to Merida's," she said.

"If it's alright with Merida, I'd like to stay in the room next to hers,"

"Of course!" Merida responded, "It would be nice to spend some more time with you. What do you say Kennan?" All eyes were on the young lord. Kyla could tell her brother was a bit reluctant, but after she flashed him the puppy-dog-face, he agreed.

Merida led Kyla up multiple flights of stairs until they got to a hall with two doors across from each other.

"That is your room." Merida said, pointing to the door on the left.

"Thank you. I was wondering, do you still do archery?" the question took Merida by surprise.

"Actually, yes. Why?"

"I was wondering if there were any trails I could use. I really need the practice."

"Definitely!" Merida exclaimed. "I'll show you tomorrow. Very few girls do archery."

"I can not stand all that "Lady" stuff my mom tries to make me do. Archery is way more fun," the two girls smiled at each other, glad they both agreed on that.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed, good night."

"Good night Merida,"

**I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while and that this chapter is so short. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers.~Kate **


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